


A Question of Love

by LadyChi



Category: Bones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-06
Updated: 2011-11-06
Packaged: 2017-10-25 18:57:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/273640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyChi/pseuds/LadyChi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey Sarge, you know anything about girls?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Question of Love

  
_And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. [...] It’s about love and memory. It’s about sorrow.  
\--Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried_   


**

Teddy's got this knife. It looks kinda worn but the kid takes good care of it, and when there's long periods of lull between bouts of action, he uses it. Carves little figures into wood. Sometimes animals, sometimes rude body parts. Booth laughs a little at first, but it's okay. It gives them space. The kid does his thing, and Booth does his.

One time the kid looks up. They haven't built a fire -- it's too dangerous, but they're sitting on the ground. There's not a lot of talking. No need, really. It's that time of night when the men are retreating into their own heads. Teddy's sitting by himself, Booth's writing a paper. Next chance he gets, he'll be e-mailing it to his professor.

"Hey Sarge, you know anything about girls?"

Booth doesn't even pause, scribbling away at note book with a flashlight in his hands. "What the hell kind of question is that, Parker?"

"General inquiry. Polite starter to the conversation I want to have with you. Sir," he adds belatedly.

"Smart ass," Booth mutters. "Yeah, I know something about girls."

"It's just that... I've got one back home."

Booth half-smiles. They all start out that way. Hell, so did he. Camille Saroyan. Smart mouth, big eyes. Legs that go on for miles. He figures someday he'll look her up.

"Yeah, so what?"

"It's her birthday, in a couple of weeks. I figure I won't be able to, you know. See her."

Booth rubs his eyes. What the hell was the thing about post-constructionist literary criticism he needed? "Yeah. Probably not. We're going to be stuck here a while."

"What should I do?"

"Listen, Parker." Booth looks up from his paper. "This is what being a soldier is all about. You tell the ones you love what you feel when you get a chance. Yeah? If you're all the way on the other side of the damn globe, not much you can do for her except remind her."

"Right, Sarge. Right."

**

"I'm going to do it, Sarge."

Booth checks the chamber of his gun. "What the hell, Parker?"

"What we were talking about the other day. I'm going to tell her."

"Good job. Put on your big boy britches, Private."

Parker laughs a bit. "Yeah. I'm just thinking I should do something special, you know. Flowers or something."

Booth makes a face and shakes his head. "Nah. You don't butter a woman up before you tell her that you love her, and you don't do it after you've just had sex. One just makes you look like an ass, and the other one detracts from what you're saying."

Parker furrowed his brow. "Which one's which?"

Booth barks out a laugh. "Figure it out yourself, kid."

**

"We go in there, you keep your head down," Booth tells him, seriously. "I'm not joking about this, Parker. You're like a damn meercat, and you're gonna get us both killed."

"She's really something."

"Who?"

"My girl, back home."

Booth fights the urge to shout. "Yeah, I'd hope so. She's all you talk about."

"She's really something, and a girl like that... she deserves something, you know?"

"Something like what?"

"Something more than me."

"Listen, Parker. Just... do it, yeah? And then shut the hell up."

"Right, Sarge. Right."

**

Then it happens. And he's running, and he's trying to save the kid's life and he's hoping, he's just hoping that this time he comes out on top. He's done this before... running to save another man's life and sometimes he turns out on top and sometimes he loses and the kid...

The kid's got a girl back home he hasn't told yet.

But he knows. He knows it's too late.

**

"Seeley?" The nurse comes out of the hospital room, holding a bundle wrapped in a blue cloth. "It's a boy, young man."

"A boy?"

"Yes. Your girlfriend says you've got naming privileges. Something about a game of monopoly?"

"Yeah." Then the nurse is putting the baby in Booth's arms, and he's a squirming mess but Booth's heart is melting already. "His name..." A flash. Of a young man with mocking eyes and a big heart who only wanted to do right by his girl. "His name's Parker. Parker Henry."

"That's a good name."

Booth's hands are almost bigger than his kid, would you look at that? He's beautiful, perfect in every way and...

"Yeah. It's a good name."


End file.
